


Imbroglio

by Synthetic_Miracle



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Conspiracy at the Garrison AU, Desert Gothic, Gen, Keith & Pidge & Lance & Hunk, Keith and Pidge just want their loved ones back, Lance and Hunk get dragged into stuff, broganes, how does one tag, strange things are afoot
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-24
Updated: 2018-11-04
Packaged: 2019-08-07 04:18:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,512
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16401191
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Synthetic_Miracle/pseuds/Synthetic_Miracle
Summary: The Kerberos mission was a huge failure, the whole crew killed due to pilot error... or at least that's what they want you to think.After losing Shiro to the Kerberos mission, Keith is grieving and alone in the desert, desperate for answers on his surrogate brother's death. When he starts feeling a strange energy leading him somewhere, despite his common sense telling him otherwise, Keith is just desperate and curious enough to try to follow it, whatever that may lead to.Katie Holt knows that the Garrison is covering something up about the Kerberos mission, but even from within its walls she struggles to find answers. One day, a feeling of helplessness at the situation leads her to explore the Garrison, where she unearths some abandoned, yet heavily encrypted information, though she might not like what it reveals once she cracks the code.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Imbroglio (noun) an extremely confused or complicated situation.

The desert is a harsh and unforgiving environment, although it certainly has a powerful beauty to it. Keith loved and hated it at the same time. He didn’t have to deal with the pain of people out here, and working hard to simply survive takes his mind off of the unresolved grief and loneliness that had torn a hole in his chest at his dad’s death, which had only grown with the failure of the Kerberos mission and the loss of his only other family. But, the desert creatures held no answers and Keith didn’t know what to do next, so he wanted to shout at the cacti in frustration sometimes. His motivation, the impetus that kept him going, was the knowledge that something was off about Shiro’s “death.” Shiro was the best pilot Keith knew, yet, reportedly, he made a mistake that cost him and his crew their lives? Maybe it was the grief talking, but Keith had a gut feeling that the Garrison was covering something up. Of course, being kicked out of the Garrison and living in the middle of the desert didn’t leave Keith with many options, but there was an electricity in his blood driving him towards answers, and that instinct was all he had to rely on. 

One day while he was working on fixing his dad’s old hoverbike, Keith felt an odd energy permeate the area. It didn’t seem malicious, but it did put Keith on edge, making him feel like he was being meticulously watched and judged. Keith stood up to look around, shading his eyes from the light of the setting sun, but saw nothing unusual, his shack and the surrounding wilderness containing nothing to explain away the unsettling feeling. This was far from the first time he had felt or seen something unexplainable, but normally the strange happenings had Keith locking up inside to avoid whatever ancient powers lurked out in the desert, far away from modern civilization. His dad had always warned him about the dangers of the desert, both the normal and the unknown, but this energy was inexplicably different, if no less powerful. 

Almost as if the presence knew it had Keith’s attention, it started drawing slowly away from the shack to somewhere deeper into the desert, at a rate that Keith could most definitely follow. Would it be a dumb idea to chase the strange energy? Keith was aware it probably was, but it didn’t set off any alarm bells. This energy didn’t provide a magical sense of safety and comfort, which Keith knew would just be a lure to get him to let his guard down, a beautiful trap like the glowing light an anglerfish would use to draw in its unsuspecting prey. It also didn’t reek of the unsated hunger of the malicious presences that Keith automatically avoided like the plague. So, grabbing his knife and the bag with supplies that he always made sure to keep on hand, Keith went against common sense and followed the energy. 

Chasing the strange presence on foot across the desert took Keith around two hours, so the desert was covered in a layer of darkness by the time he reached the energy’s destination, which appeared to be a canyon. He’d have to fix the hover bike completely before returning here, if he survived the night and indeed wanted to return, anyway. Other than him, it was obvious that only animals had been to the canyon in recent history, but even signs of them were scarce. Grabbing a flashlight out of his pack, Keith began tentatively making his way down into the canyon. The energy guided him towards one of the caves in the canyon walls, which was honestly a suspicious thing to do, but Keith once again defied his brain’s insistence to turn around and followed his gut, which told him to listen and just go into the cave. 

The cave was pitch black, and seemed to go on for a while, if the way Keith’s footsteps echoed were any indication. Keith used the flashlight to cut through the darkness, seeing nothing lurking in the dark crevice. When he aimed the light at the walls, Keith saw symbols splayed across them, depicting what seemed to be ancient creatures and legends. Keith wandered further into the cave, and as he did so the energy seemed to settle down, apparently having done what it had set out to do. Keith took out an old camera that had been resting at the bottom of his backpack, and began taking pictures of the walls, attempting to keep them in some kind of order. Although he had trusted the energy thus far, he didn’t want to risk his luck by checking out the entire cave, so he didn’t stray far from the entrance. The markings felt oddly important, so Keith decided that he would return tomorrow in the light of day, with the supplies to go spelunking, just in case. Scrabbling carefully out of the cave and subsequent canyon, Keith made a mental map as he started heading back to the shack. 

The journey back seemed to take longer, though Keith felt that it was probably because he was tired and not determined to follow the energy that had decided to lead him away. He also thanked his lucky stars that, somehow, his gut had been right and he hadn’t been kidnapped by an ancient desert dwelling being like his mind had expected. Still, Keith had no idea what the significance of the symbols were, but he would come back to document the rest, and try to decipher it. Some hopeful, naive part of his heart desperately wanted solving the markings to also lead him to figuring out what had happened to Shiro, but he tried not to get his expectations up, knowing the two were probably completely unrelated. 

~~~~~~~~~

Katie Holt was positive that the Garrison was lying about the deaths of the Kerberos crew. She had tried to prove it early on, but had been too rash and gotten caught. Still determined to find answers, Katie knew the only way to do that would be from within the Garrison itself. So, one messy haircut and as note to her mom later, she set out to apply for the Garrison as Pidge Gunderson.

Meeting her partners, Lance and Hunk, was certainly a trip. The two seemed pretty nice and they weren’t boring, but they really drove home the fact that she didn’t belong here; she wasn’t at the school to learn like the rest of them, but to dig up the dirty secrets she knew were lurking somewhere within the Garrison’s walls. Lance and Hunk did end up being a nice distraction though, their light-hearted antics managed to distract her temporarily, although if she asked herself, she would say she was annoyed at them for interrupting her search. 

Even from within the Garrison, Katie was having a hard time finding any new leads. She didn’t want to risk “Pidge” on getting caught sneaking into Iverson’s office again, and all other trails led to nothing. That is, until she was attempting to hack into something useful on the roof one day and had an inexplicable urge to wander around the buildings. Sitting still and tracing dead end after dead end was driving her crazy, so she decided to wander around the Garrison, unbothered and unseen. Everything was made much harder for Katie because she wanted to try to avoid cameras and the general foot traffic so it took ages for her to find a nice, very out of the way spot to wander around. Eventually, Katie found herself at an abandoned staircase, well out of the way of Garrison personnel and students alike. 

It wasn't anything super exciting, but, she had come all this way, so Katie decided to walk around the staircase for a bit, to see if there was anything remarkable about it. After finding nothing out of the ordinary, she leaned up against the stairs’ rough side and sighed, when suddenly she felt the wall start moving. Jumping back in surprise, Katie turned to see the wall where she had been standing opening up a hole about the size of a doorway. The inside was dark and completely silent before bright lights began turning on, revealing a dusty, narrow hallway. Never one to pass up an opportunity to assuage her curiosity, Katie began tentatively walking down the hallway. Fairly soon, she was led to what looked like an old data room, filled with old binders stuffed with notes and a few older computer models. 

Scanning the binders, Katie soon realized that everything was in code. It wasn’t anything like ones she’d seen before, or else she would have been able to figure it out in an instant. She glanced around for a second before quickly snatching a few of the old files and sitting down at one of the old computer monitors. Of course, she didn’t really expect it to turn on at all, but it did once she plugged a wire into one of the outlets on the nearby wall. Whoever had decided to abandon the area had obviously done so quickly, leaving the computers and files in working condition, rather than taking any along with them. That left the question as to why it was so hidden away if nobody really cared about it. Of course, the computer was locked by a password, but Katie knew she could hack it if given the time. She stretched, popping her back before getting to work on the computer. Even though this stuff was old and probably had nothing to do with the Kerberos mission, Katie let herself feel a tiny flicker of hope. She allowed herself a split second to imagine that uncovering the information hidden in a dusty old data room might, just maybe, help her find her family. Then, she shoved the emotion away and got to work.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Eh, parallels anyone?
> 
> Anyway, I know I'm not great with writing fanfiction yet, but I'm gonna keep on trying. I hope you like the story so far, it'll probably update when I have a chance, so not on any schedule. It's inspired by a mixture of reading conspiracy theory related stuff and tumblr gothics so... here ya go I guess. This story is not beta read because we die like men, so sorry for any typos/errors. Please feel free to comment your thoughts and questions, I'd love to hear what you think.


	2. Chapter 2

Once the dawn had begun to paint the sky, Keith decided it was time to get up and start heading back towards the cave. The energy was no longer pestering him, but he did get the sense that it was still around, and that it might have been the thing that had woken him in the first place. After gathering some supplies, including water, spelunking gear, and another camera, Keith decided to risk foregoing the hoverbike again, determined to get as much of the markings documented as he could, rather than focusing on finishing hoverbike repairs. Sure, he’d probably regret it on the trek back, but he knew that if he tried to work on the bike he’d get stir-crazy and distracted, so it was for the best. 

The long walk back to the canyon gave Keith plenty of time to question his own sanity. Even though he hadn’t been killed (or worse) last night, he couldn’t afford to let his guard down with the energy, or really with anything unexplainable out so far in the desert. His father had always told him to trust his instincts about fleeing at the sense of the malevolent presences, but Keith highly doubted that his dad would be happy with him for listening to his gut on this. Either way, Keith was very much alone, so he figured that it was probably fine; if anything went wrong, at least the only one to be hurt by his mistake would be him, and he’d be on high alert anyway, so maybe he would make it out in one piece if he was lucky. 

When Keith finally reached the canyon, he was struck by its beauty in the bright gold morning light. Some of the veins in the canyon walls almost appeared to be glowing, and the tannish rocks were tinted red and bronze. After pausing for a drink, Keith made his way down into the caves. He certainly did not want to be outside once the day really got going, as it was already very warm and the heat would later get nearly unbearable. The memory of people baking cookies by leaving the dough on the dashboards in their cars as they went about their business was enough to make him smile, even though he was now far away from all of that normalcy, and that heat could very well kill him if he was careless. 

The cool shade of the cave was a relief, even so early on in the day. Keith put on a headlight and grabbed his camera, keeping an eye out for snakes, scorpions, and other critters that might have taken refuge in the cave. The energy seemed to drive away most life, but Keith didn’t particularly want to be killed from some simple error. If he was going to go out, completely isolated in a weird cave far away from humanity, he at least planned to die as a result of one of the dangerous, unknown and ancient desert dwellers. There, he would have a pretty good excuse, even if the way he went out would probably be more painful, and might even put his soul at risk? It’s not like anybody really knew what happened to those unfortunate enough to be taken by the… others, and Keith wished desperately to never find out, but at least it would be more epic and less of an easily avoidable death. 

All the intricate markings seemed to tell one story, Keith noted as he observed the cave walls. As he went farther in, he noticed that there was an overarching tale, even though the story branched off into what looked like separate sides and details of the legend when the cave did. While he didn’t know exactly what the marking were saying yet, he noticed how they repeated symbols, and felt that he would be able to decipher them eventually after poring over his pictures and doing more research. 

Keith passed the day in the cave, documenting the markings and drawing maps of the tunnels with occasional breaks for food and water. The energy appeared to be content with his work, though it also carried an undertone of urgency for him to work fast. So, Keith worked swiftly and efficiently, finally wrapping it all up when his watch said it was about 8:00 PM. He’d managed to record all of the markings in the main cave and all of the separate branches that he had found. None of the story seemed to be missing, but Keith figured that he would notice if anything was left out if he cracked the code and the story was incomplete. 

As Keith left the cave, he was taken in by the warm tones that the setting sun cast over the canyon. He didn’t stay around to observe the sunset however, as a feeling of acute unease was beginning to wash over him, and not from the seemingly benevolent energy. The energy was just urging him to leave, to get home quickly. At first, Keith had thought it just wanted him to hurry up with his task, but now that he was out of the relative safety of the cave, he sensed that there was something dark and evil slowly encroaching over the desert. Panic began to slowly set in as Keith realized that he was vulnerable out in the desert, far away from the precious protection of his shack as one of the other, sinister presences began to make its way out in search of prey. 

Keith clutched his knife tightly, as if it would help him against one of the others, as if it could possibly help against something that humans had never truly comprehended, other than the knowledge that they needed to avoid it at all costs. He started sprinting for the shack, knowing that, even with the energy that had been guiding him, the caves would no longer be safe, not while it was out and about. Nowhere would be, really, but the presences always seemed to pass over those who stayed tucked safely inside their homes. It was as if their essence blended in because they were where they belonged and not out in the others’ domain, where humans had no right walk around boldly and expect clemency. So, Keith ran, pushed on through a mixture of fear, adrenaline, and the guiding energy. He kept desperately sprinting, as the presence slowly began to get closer and closer, gaining on him in the deadly chase. He ran on, futilely, hoping that he’d make it home in time to hide away.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Surprisingly, it took Katie less than three minutes to work her way into the old Garrison computer. She was good, but it was the Garrison, so she had expected better security even from the outdated computers, which made this whole ordeal more suspicious to her. The room was hidden ridiculously far away from normal student and personnel traffic, so obviously it wasn’t meant to be found, and everything contained in the room was encrypted. Yet it was all just left there, folders and computers full of data were just sitting around, abandoned, and the security on them was laughable. What could the Garrison possibly be hiding in a place like this? The whole situation made her uneasy, but even if it was completely unrelated to the Kerberos mission, Katie was going to figure it out, it was too odd to just leave unsolved.

Once into the computer, Katie found that all of the information on it was just as encrypted as the stuff in the folders. It still seemed to be entirely different from anything she’d come across before, but honestly that just made her more curious and determined to decode it. Although Katie was undoubtedly a hacking genius, she found herself still there an hour later, frantically working away at the encryption. Nothing had stumped her like this since she was about six years old, which only added to the layer of suspicion and unease she felt about this room. Everything was so heavily encrypted but, again, the room and all of the data in it appeared to have just been left for some unknown reason. Low security on the actual computers but a ridiculously hard to crack encryption? That just rubbed her the wrong way. 

After three hours, Katie finally managed to make some progress on decoding the data. So far, she’d just figured out the encryption on one folder full of docs on the computer, but she was curious enough to start reading immediately. The folder was labelled “Folder 3”, and while she knew that it might not make as much sense without background information from previous folders, Katie immediately clicked on the first file. 

The Cerberus Project 11/22/39

Experiment #27: Complete.

Subject #53 Status: Unknown

Test: The subject was put in the middle of the desert for 48 hours with adequate supplies to survive, chained near the edge of cave to prevent them from fleeing from the experiment. 

Goal: To capture and study the Unknown.

Results: Inconclusive. The subject was taken during the middle of the day. Despite the surveillance on the area, nothing was seen taking the subject. Before disappearing, the subject started rambling about “the wrongness,” eventually stating that “Oh god, it’s coming, it’s coming, please free me, please.” Within the next minute, the subject had vanished. The cuff was left completely unharmed, having simply popped open. The area was silent as the subject disappeared, with no screams from the subject or noises from wildlife. No other audio or visuals were captured of the Unknown or suspicious activity. More testing will be required.

Katie was horrified after just one file, yet she kept reading about this secret “Cerberus Project” from years and years ago. All the subjects from Folder 3 had disappeared without a trace, leaving results that were inconclusive and required more testing. Whatever the Unknown was, she certainly hadn’t heard anything about it, no stories of unexplained disappearances in the desert, besides the few that were eventually solved. The Garrison must have been keeping it under wraps at the time, but maybe they had eventually solved the issue? However, whether it was solved or not, the Garrison had been fine letting people get taken in order to figure it out, and then had covered it up. 

It was getting late, so Katie knew that she had to return to the student dorms, but all she wanted was to stay and crack the rest of the files. There appeared to be fifteen more folders that she hadn’t decoded on that computer, plus there was all of the hard copies and other computers. Katie decided to download all of the files onto a hard drive, grab a few of the folders, and head back to her room.

As Katie went to bed, one thing in particular kept bothering her. Cerberus and Kerberos both referred to the same monster from Greek mythology, and while Kerberos was indeed a moon of Pluto… the mission might have been more related to the Cerberus Project than she had thought.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well this chapter was super fun to write! I'm really getting into this story, so I hope you guys like it too.  
> As you can see, Keith and Pidge are investigating the same issue, just from different perspectives. I know that there hasn't really been much Lance or Hunk yet, but I promise they're gonna get dragged into it soon. This story is not beta read, so again I apologize for any errors that I did not catch. 
> 
> Please feel free to comment your thoughts or questions, I'd love to hear them. Thanks so much for reading!

**Author's Note:**

> Eh, parallels anyone?
> 
> Anyway, I know I'm not great with writing fanfiction yet, but I'm gonna keep on trying. I might end up changing the rating for this to T later, but that's not determined yet. I hope you like the story so far, it'll probably update when I have a chance, so not on any schedule. It's inspired by a mixture of reading conspiracy theory related stuff and tumblr gothics so... here ya go I guess. This story is not beta read because we die like men, so sorry for any typos/errors. Please feel free to comment your thoughts and questions, I'd love to hear what you think.


End file.
